Ros-Marie Grusén: "I focus on development"

Ros-Marie Grusén, Managing Director of NMD, is not so concerned about the differences between genders. She believes there are greater differences between individuals than the categories into which people are placed. Her strongest asset is her ability to assemble a good team.

Ros-Marie Grusén is not concerned with labels and does not want to categorise people - herself included.“However, through trying to be a good role model, I hope I can inspire more people to take the next step in their own career. Whether this means moving to another country, taking greater responsibility, or jumping into a new area of responsibility,” she says.

Two years ago, Ros-Marie Grusén made such a step in her own career. She changed both jobs and countries.“The opportunities for development in Celesio are huge, at all levels. So after four years in Sweden, I moved to the larger business in Norway. It was a natural step. I have worked a fair bit with Norwegians, and knew that I would be happy here,” explains Grusén. “Not that I think there is a major difference between Norwegians and Swedes. Again, the differences are greater between individuals than between nationalities.”

The pharmacy sector is a workplace occupied by many women, also in management positions. Women account for 60 per cent of the managers at Vitusapotek pharmacies, and the management team of NMD is composed of almost 70 per cent women.“However, the picture is different in other companies and women are the minority in many positions, especially in senior management. It is difficult to explain why there are few women in these roles, but I believe that we can generally agree that the situation has derived from a structural failure, which is now in the process of being changed. Even though it takes a long time.”

What is your management philosophy?“I focus on development. Development of people, the organisation, the businesses and customer relations.”

She does not believe that the challenges she encounters are because she is a Swede in Norway.“The greatest challenge faced by managers, regardless of country, is to construct good prerequisites for the organisation and to make sure that the employees and the business develops in the right direction. For customer-facing businesses like NMD, everyone needs to work together to create added value for the customers,” she concludes.